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Genoa Cricket and Football Club

by gabrielelagona | October 29th, 2012

Anybody that doesn’t really hold an interest in Italian football probably won’t know much about Genoa. These days, the likes of Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan are the main teams talked about in Italy and bearing this in mind, many will be astounded to hear that Genoa are statistically regarded as the fourth most successful side in Italian football history.

Of course, as the name of this club indicates, Genoa are very different to the majority of football clubs. While they were initially established as a football club in 1893, which happens to make them the oldest club in Italy, they also have a cricket and athletics segment which was founded several years later in 1897. However, it’s undoubtedly the football side that is seen as the major force and for this reason; we’ll now take a look at some of the big issues of this part of the club.

The success

As mentioned previously, Genoa are regarded as one of the most successful Italian clubs in history. They have won Serie A on no less than nine occasions, although the last title did come all the way back in 1924. They also have one Italian Cup victory to their name, while they have their hands on some historic European titles such as the Coppa delle Alpi and Anglo-Italian Cup.

It’s clear to see that while Genoa have been incredibly successful, most of this success came a long, long time ago. The fact their last Serie A title came almost a century ago highlights this and we should now point out that they have struggled much more in recent times. They have suffered relegation from the top division on numerous occasions and have even played some football in Serie C following some tragic years. They are now back in Serie A but after finishing last season in 17th place, they are certainly regarded as one of the weaker outfits in Italian football nowadays.

Legends that have played for Genoa

As you would expect from a team that is blessed with such positive history, Genoa have countless past players that could be provided with legendary status. The fact that Gennaro Ruotolo has put on the Genoa jersey more than any other player certainly makes him open to this status, with the midfielder managing to play no less than 444 times. Admittedly, he was hardly a goal scorer during this period, yet he still managed thirty five goals during his fourteen year career at Genoa.

If we are looking towards goals, Virgilio Levratto is certainly regarded very highly. In total, he managed eighty four goals in 188 appearances for Genoa and the fact he played during the successful period between 1925 and 1932 was obviously a help. There is also another attacking player that can be viewed very highly for Genoa and that is Diego Milito. Most followers of football will have certainly heard of this player as he was at one stage a seasoned international for Argentina. He played for the club on two separate occasions and scored fifty seven times in ninety appearances.

The future for Genoa

Unfortunately, it really does seem as though the best times for Genoa are well and truly behind them. While they experienced incredible success many years ago, over recent times other clubs have clawed their way to the top of Italian football and it’s certainly going to be very dislodge them. Nevertheless, Genoa at least has a decent platform and the fact they have a stadium with a 36,536 capacity means that they are prepared for success in the future. They also have some established players at the club including Sebastien Frey, Andreas Granqvist and Boško Janković being just some of the high-profile stars there.

It’s no surprise that Italian football is much admired and followed around the world. Liam enjoys Italian Seria A and writes about Italian football regularly on his sports blog. He also writes about the best bet bonus as some of his readers are interested in adding extra interest to the game.